


Come Back to Me

by mollswinchester



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Military, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Castiel & Sam Winchester Friendship, Castiel-centric, Comatose Dean, Domestic, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Established Relationship, Ficlet, Fluff, Multi, POV Castiel, Parents Castiel & Dean Winchester, Worried Castiel, destiel ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-03 23:44:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10977873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mollswinchester/pseuds/mollswinchester
Summary: Castiel Winchester, husband of Dean Winchester, is barely holding it together. He has to be strong for their daughter, but when Cas receives a call one day telling him his husband is missing in action, will he be able to cope?





	Come Back to Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting my writing on line, go easy on me ;)

Fifteen months, two weeks, and three days. 

It had been over a year since Castiel Winchester had seen his husband. Over a year since their daughter, Mary, had seen her father. Birthdays passed, holidays passed, milestones passed.

When Dean was deployed the first time, it hadn’t been for longer than a few months. The second time, it had been roughly seven months. It was hard, yes, but the waiting was never this bad before. 

Dean had been a lot of places and held a lot of positions but this time was different. This time, Cas knew there was a chance he wouldn’t come back. He was touring in Afghanistan for the first time, experiencing hand-to-hand combat, terrorists, open fire and bombings for the first time. 

In school, you’re only ever taught to respect veterans. You never learn how to keep breathing when the phone rings or when there’s a knock at the door. You never learn how to pretend you’re sane because it’s not fair that you’re suffering when someone you love is overseas fighting for not just their life but the lives of everyone else in the country. 

Cas pretends Dean is travelling. Pretends he’s driving down the backroads of Nowhere, USA with his obnoxious rock music playing from the speakers in the Impala. But whenever Cas catches a glimpse of the picture on the fireplace, the one with Dean in uniform standing stiffly in front of an American flag, he’s reminded that Dean is overseas, with nothing but a small, torn up picture of his daughter and husband to make him feel safe. 

He hadn’t expected it all to be this bad. 

The last skype call they had was more than three months ago, and the last letter Castiel received came only a few days after that. It wasn’t weird at first. Dean sometimes went weeks without getting in touch. There were times where Dean wasn’t able to contact home for a multitude of reasons, most of which were nothing to worry about. And Cas always had faith that Dean would come home to him, so it wasn’t like he anticipated anything bad happening to Dean. 

Imagine the shock Cas got when he received a phone call early one spring evening from a man he didn’t know, telling him that Dean had been MIA for over a week and his whereabouts were unknown. Cas had fallen to the floor. Unsure of how to react at first, he stared blankly at his feet, hoping to wake up from the nightmare he had to have been having. 

He cried, and pounded his fists on the ground, he yelled at the ceiling and curled into a ball. Dean Winchester. Dammit, Dean Winchester. 

Cas lied on the floor for what seemed like hours when his phone beeped. He flinched at first, hundreds of different scenarios going through his head on why Dean had disappeared. He only felt worse when he saw it was his alarm, telling him to go pick Mary up from her play-date with her cousins down the street.  
God, what was he going to tell her? A six year old should never have to fear that their father might be dead. What was he going to tell Sam? What was he going to tell his friends? How could he not get to say goodbye? 

Cas was pacing the living room when someone knocked on the door. He didn’t want to answer it. More than anything, Cas wanted to go to his bed, no, his and Dean’s bed, and sleep until someone called and told him that Dean was alright. That he was coming home because Dean had to be coming home. He just had to. 

“Cas?” The person outside called. Sam. Cas looked at his watch, seeing that thirty minutes had passed since he was supposed to pick Mary up. Dean can’t be dead. He has to be here for Mary. He already missed her first day of kindergarten, he can’t miss her first date, graduation, her wedding--God, he was going to be sick.

Cas couldn’t make it to the bathroom, he only got as far as the kitchen sink before retching up everything he’d eaten that day. There was a picture on the fridge, one of Dean and Cas and Mary on the day they finalized her adoption--Mary, only a baby at the time-- was grinning widely and happily as her new dads held her and cried. 

Dean has to come back.

“Castiel!” Sam was pounding on the door, sounding worried now. If only he knew. If only knew that his only brother could be dead right now. Sam looked up to his brother--basically worshiped him. This would break him. 

Sam was suddenly standing in front of Cas at the kitchen sink, forehead wrinkled in concern. “Cas?” He said, gripping Cas’s shoulders tightly. “Cas, talk to me, man.”

“Mary,” he said.

“Jess took her back to the house when you weren’t opening the door, what the hell happened?”

Cas shook his head. He sat down on the floor, back leaning against the sink where he threw up moments ago. “Dean.” He said. “Dean, Dean, Dean.”

“Cas,” Sam began sounding nervous. 

“He’s missing, Sam. They said the likelihood of him being found--alive, anyways--are slim to none. Sam, he could be dead. Dean could be--”

“Shit,” Sam said. 

“He was supposed to come back to me.” Cas whispered. Then, louder, “He promised me!” Cas let a sob escape. “He promised he’d come back. He promised me, Sam. How could he lie?” He hollered, not caring about how uncomposed he was, not caring that he was embarrassing himself. 

Sam sat down, pulling Cas’s head to his shoulder. They both sat there, shaking, until the sun went down. 

Cas didn’t cry again after that. 

Xxx

The worst part had been Mary talking about her daddy like he was coming home any day now. She’d been like that since the beginning. This was the first tour where Mary had understood what was going on. 

Cas had to explain to her that her daddy might never come home. That she might never see him again. Every night, when Cas tucked her in, Mary would say a prayer. Every night, she would ask God to bring her daddy home. 

The pain had gone away months ago. Now he felt numb. People stopped asking for news about Dean and Cas stopped expecting it. They had only had a month left until he was supposed to come home when Cas got the dreadful phone call. 

Months had gone by. Summer came and Cas tried to be the best father he could be for Mary. That included hosting a birthday party for her on July 11. Her cousins were there. Her schoolmates were there. Even some of Cas’s coworkers from the elementary school had brought their kids. She was having the time of her life, running around the yard in her bathing suit, enjoying the pool party Jess and Charlie had helped set up. Cas hadn’t even wanted a pool. It was Dean who wanted it in the first place. 

“How ya doin’, Cas?” Charlie asked. 

“I’m okay.” He said. Charlie glared at him, acknowledging his lie. “I’m trying to be okay,” He corrected. Charlie gave him a sympathetic look. 

“Well, Mary seems to be having the time of her life, so at least something’s going right.” Charlie said. She pointed to Mary who had gotten in the pool. It seemed as though she was trying to drown Ben, a boy who lived down the street. Cas chuckled as he watched Sam desperately try to get Mary off of the boy. 

That’s when everything stopped. 

Charlie’s jaw dropped, Sam covered his mouth with his hand, someone dropped a particularly large present as they were moving to put it on the table of gifts. At first, Cas didn’t know what everyone was looking at. They were all looking past him, staring in awe. 

He turned slowly. Cas felt himself pale as he took in the sight of two tall men in uniform, coming through the gate. 

“We’re looking for a Mr. Castiel Winchester,” the taller of the pair said. Cas didn’t move--he couldn’t move. 

Dean couldn’t be dead, he promised he’d come back--

Charlie nudged him. Slowly, Cas stepped forward, trying to convince his shaking knees to keep him upright. 

“I-I’m Castiel,” he said. By that point, event the children had gone silent. 

“Is there somewhere we could speak privately, Castiel?” Cas led them inside through the back door. He brought them to the kitchen, deciding the living room would be too friendly. Not the kind of environment he’d want to associate with the news of his husband being declared dead. 

“I’m Chaplin Lafitte,” the man who spoke earlier said. “We understand that you’ve been aware of your husband’s missing status for the past few months?” Cas nods. “We have good news, Mr. Winchester: Lieutenant Colonel Dean Winchester is alive.”

There’s ringing in Cas’s ear. He backs up so that his back his the wall. Tilting his head back, Cas lets himself breathe. He finally lets himself breathe, a single tear escaping from his eye. He wipes it away immediately. 

He smiles. 

Before Cas can say anything, Chaplin Lafitte continues. “Sir, your husband was injured in a firearms explosion. He was taken to a medical center miles away from base, where he was in a coma. He was a regular John Doe until he woke last week and was able to give his name. We had assumed he was dead but had no grounds to declare him as such.”

“Is he going to be okay?”

“He’s fine. Our sources tell us that your husband is on track to make an impeccable recovery. We’re to tell you that you’re the first person he asked for when he woke up.”

Cas covered his face with his hands. He was smiling so widely, it hurt. “So he’s--”

“Mr. Winchester, your husband is coming home.” 

Cas was sobbing by the time he shook the hands of the two men and led them to the door. He was hiccuping and wiping tears as he walked out of the house and to the party. Everyone was waiting silently, watching the door in anticipation. All of Lawrence knew about Dean. They all wanted to know what was going on. 

“Mary, come here.” Cas said as soon as he stepped outside. Mary ran up to him. She immediately wiped his tears. 

“What’s wrong, papa?” she asked. 

Cas crouched down and wiped the wet hair from her face. “Nothing’s wrong, sweetheart. Your daddy’s coming home.” he said. There were audible gasps and murmurs coming from the party guests but all that mattered was the grin on Mary’s face.

“Daddy’s coming home!” She screamed, running and jumping back into the pool with a huge smile on her face. 

“Cas, what--” Sam began wearily. 

“Dean’s alive. He’s coming home, Sam.” Cas said, tears welling up in his eyes again. People began to cheer and Sam fell to the ground. Charlie ran up to Cas and hugged him, and he squeezed her so tight she complained. 

“He’s coming home,” Cas whispered to no one in particular. 

Xxx

Chaplin Lafitte told Cas that as soon as Dean was well enough to travel, he’d be on a plane home. Cas hadn’t even let himself hope that it’d be only a week before he was standing in the airport, his daughter on his shoulders to help him scan the crowd. 

“Do you see him yet, Mary?” He asked. 

“Nope,” she answered.

The two had gotten to the airport an hour early. Cas had plenty of time to contemplate everything he wants to do once he gets Dean back in his arms. 

He missed the sex, sure, but he missed Dean’s love for pie even more. He missed Dean playing his music loudly over the record player as they got ready in the morning. He missed waking up next to Dean. 

Cas tried not to fear that Dean would be different. He tried to no avail. What if the things he had seen messed him up too much? What if he didn’t want Cas anymore? What if Dean wasn’t even Dean?

“Papa!” Mary cried. She was wiggling around so Cas brought her down from his shoulders in fear that she might fall. “Papa! I see daddy!” She took off running before Cas had a chance to ask where. He tried to follow her through the crowd of people, not even bothering to care when he bumped into too many people. 

He blinked and then Mary was gone. He could no longer see her brown hair flowing behind her as she ran. Just as he was beginning to panic, Cas turned and saw that people were beginning to clear. And then, standing only a few feet away, was Dean Winchester, holding their daughter, smiling bigger than Cas remembered him ever smiling before. 

Dean, dressed in his uniform, was leaning on a crutch, one arm in a sling, and the entire area above his left eye bandaged but he managed to hold up the little girl effortlessly. Cas stood for a few moments before it finally sunk in--this was real. Dean really was right there. 

Without a second though, Cas ran up to Dean, hugging him as tight as he could. He choked out a sob and tried to hold himself up as best as he could but he collapsed to his knees and brought Dean down with him. Cas momentarily feared he would hurt his husband but Dean didn’t seem to care--he only hugged Cas back with the broken arm, hugging Mary with the other, crutch already having collapsed to the ground. 

“Cas,” Dean said. “Cas--”

“I’m here, Dean.” Cas said. He looked into his husband’s eyes--directly into the emerald irises he hadn’t seen in so long, and kissed him. Dean’s lips tasted just as he’d remembered. They kissed for a while, neither wanting to let go of the other. When their breathing got heavier and they had to part, they rested their foreheads on each other. 

“I love you, Cas.”

“I love you, Dean”

Six minutes. 

It’s been six minutes since Dean Winchester fell back into his husband’s arms.


End file.
